Chris Pine: ‘Star Trek’ set ‘is incredible’

In just days, Kirk, Spock, and Uhura will be back in theaters in the new film “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Actor Chris Pine talks about playing iconic the role of Captain Kirk, saying “I feel so lucky to be where I am.”

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>the
uss enterprise
is ready to beam us up for a brand new

adventure in "star trek:into darkness
," and the crew is almost as confident as they can be. take a look.

>>i'm not sure that qualifies.

>>and
chris pine
is
captain kirk
again. good morning to you.

>>good morning to you.

>>i was thinking about this, the second installment in the new "
star trek
" series. the first time you had the intimidation of playing the iconic character. now you've got to live up to the hype of the first movie, was it intimidating to get back in the suit?

>>i think in the beginning any time you step on the set, there's some kind of trepidation you won't be able to -- especially because the first film was received so well, that you won't live up to the hype. but you know, j.j., our director,
j.j. abrams
creates a very warm set, it's very easy, light hearted set. so whatever responsibility we might feel is taken off us, thank god.

>>and we see the continuation of your bromance with
spock
.

>>yes.

>>it's at the heart of the movie.

>>it is. it's two men in a great friendship that are trying to figure each other out. and you know, kirk is a ruled by his passions, heart, and
spock
obviously is a man of logic and reason and come from these two
polar opposite
ends of the spectrum and it's a matter of them, you know, for them to learn to work together, essentially.

>>in
real life
, do you feel you have more
spock
-like qualities or
captain kirk
-like?

>>well, i think it's a balance of both and that's the journey of these two men to figure out some kind of balance between the body and the mind.

>>j.j. abrams
, great director of this gave you a great playground. he couldn't build you a spaceship, but the set is pretty impressive, right?

>>the set is incredible. i did one episode of "e.r." many years ago and stepping on to that set, looked like a hospital it was like the complete thing. and this "enterprise" that was created was incredible. they had the bridge and the corridors leading off it. and it lends itself -- it helps us certainly play make believe.

>>it's great to be in a huge franchise like this. you've been at acting for a while. when you're in something like this, does it make you feel like, okay, i've made it.

>>you know, it's so -- i feel so lucky to be where i am and, you know, it's really a credit to j.j. that, you know, going to work even though it is "
star trek
," a big franchise, you feel like coming back after summer break and seeing your friends for the first time. and, you know, you get into it and at the
end of the day
, it's fun, it's not -- it's kind of work, but mostly fun.

>>are you the kind of person who thinks, boy, if i can do this thing or achieve that goal, i'll know i've made it, i'm a
big star
.

>>you know, obviously i'm ambitious like anybody else is, but i think i've learned enough in my time that you reach that plateau and just when you think that this will give you that sense of, you know, you'll be sated, you look up and there's ever more platforms to get to. i'm enjoying my time and, you know, i just hope to get some more opportunity.

>>you come from a showbiz family. you have both of your parents were actors at one time. was there ever really an option for you? or was that the absolute career path?

>>i think, you know, in hindsight, you know, around the dinner table, i suppose if you come from a family of doctors or something, you talk about medicine, but at our dinner table, you talk about the day's work and my father, you know, invariably would be coming from one set or another. and that's what we would talk about. i think by a process of osmosis i kind of, you know, it seeped into my bloodstream. but no, i wanted to be a baseball player, all sorts of things other than an actor.

>>well, you're now going to play another iconic role,
jack ryan
. you like to set yourself up for big challenges, i guess.

>>i don't know what it is in the stars that have aligned i'm taking on these two, you know, storied franchises and obviously great actors have played these characters before. and this newest installment is
keira knightley
is in it,
kevin costner
whom i love and, you know, watched his films forever. it's an intelligent thriller. it's a new kind of
spy thriller
i think that makes a lot of sense in
2013
.

>>well,
chris pine
, great to see you. we'll be watching that and "star

trek:into darkness
" which opens in theaters on
may 16th
. now let's send it over to matt.